Family home + no will + share

[philmycoke]

Hello guys,

I am sorry if this post is in the wrong section.

Please kindy either put it in the right section or answer as best as you can.

This is a desperate situation.

I am currently unemployed for 4 years.

I can not seek benefits as i have a property rented out.

Income is around £1300 and out goings with huge debts around £1400.

My mother and brother owned the house i currently live in and up to December 2006 i paid via the direct debit mortgage, internet and sky.

My mother died and named me in her will.

I paid solicitors around £700 to do some work.

I guess it was to execute the will.

Once this was done, my brother informed me due to my credit rating Abbey National are refusing to put my name on the deeds or have me as a mortgagee.

He then contacted solicitors and made an avid davit where i gave up my right to the will or something.

This Abbey National accepted and the house was remortgaged solely under my brothers name.

Since then due to unemployment i have been living in the same box room till now.

Now brother and his wife are being difficult.

I am sure anytime now i could be forced out of the house or even forced to pay rent which i cant claim for or afford due to unemployment.

My questions are as follows.

1) Do i still have rights to the will and the property even i signed something saying i don’t.

I was seeking help from a psycho therapist for depression and other things at that time and my credit rating was bad even then even if there truth to my brothers claim.

2) Can i be kicked out of the property and do i have any help or support?

3) How quickly can i be removed from the property?

One of the reason why i don’t pay rent and might refuse is from 2000 to 2007 i paid the mortgage.

Almost £36k for the stupid box room.

Please kindly help as much as you can.

Ali

[rebel11]

Hi PhilWelcome to CAGThe guys will advise as soon as they are available. Thread moved.

Heres some info on eviction, http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction

[PriorityOne]

philmycoke said:

Once this was done, my brother informed me due to my credit rating Abbey National are refusing to put my name on the deeds or have me as a mortgagee. 

Crikey..... this is a tough one.

I'm inclined to think that you've signed away your rights to the Will, which is effectively what you said in your post. Whether you can go back on this decision now and on what grounds now however need to be addressed by a solicitor who specialises in property/Will issues.

I'm a bit concerned by the part I've highlighted.... did you see any proof of this or did you just accept your brother's word? You should have had a letter addressed directly to you.... Due to data protection laws, it seems unlikely that information regarding your credit worthiness would have been released to your brother, to be honest.

Do you still have proof that you paid the mortgage for 7 years?

[Ed999]

You must consult a Solicitor. This problem is too complex for a self-help forum.

 

If you were making payments in repayment of the mortgage capital - not merely towards payment of the interest, but actually in repayment of the capital sum outstanding - you might have acquired an equitable interest in the property, which would possibly become an overriding interest even if not registered at HM Land Registry, as a consequence of you being actually in occupation of the property.

 

You need to see a Solicitor and have him arrange to properly protect your interest, i.e. potentially a part-ownership of the property, by proper registration at the Land Registry.

 

The mortgage lender might have required that you sign a waiver of your rights, so that your occupation of the property could not prevent them selling it if the mortgage is not repaid. Less than an abandonment of your rights under the Will, that might be the type of document you signed - just a power of sale, in limited circumstances, not an abandonment of all your inheritance rights. Such waivers are very common, and it would be surprising if the mortgage lender had not insisted on you signing one if you live there.

 

You can have a Solicitor find out from the lender just what it was you signed, and he will explain to you its legal effect. But the effect might not be what you seem to think it is, for the reasons I've mentioned.

[PriorityOne]

Good post Ed.... very informative...

[mariner51]

Good attempt Edd on limited OP info.

 

Was mother's house left solely to OP or inc brother as joint beneficiary?

IMO OP needs proof that he made mortgage repayments direct to lender solely from his own funds. Paying 'rent' to mother to 'cover the mortgage' is not sufficient. Were any written agreements in place?

Whoi was appointed Executor of mother's Will? They or OP should have notified Land Registry of change of interest in property to beneficiary, though mortgage lender (Abbey) may be included.

I do not believe Abbey (Santander) can deprive any sole beneficiary of his inheritance, irresp of a poor credit rating if the mortgage is not in arears, though they could decline to transfer the mortgage on poor credit rating , resulting in the beneficiary having to sell the property and pay off the outstanding mortgage if unable to maintain payments. However, signing away rights to mother's Will may prove fatal to OPs case.

I suspect the villain here may be the brother if he stands to benefit,

OP should consult a rep solicitor and provide copy of the Will for scrutiny. The Executor can be held personally liable for any malfeasance.

Family Will's often result in family disputes if prof advice on wording is not sought by person mking the Will.

[Ed999]

The o/p said -

 

i paid via the direct debit mortgage, internet and sky

 

so how do we reach a situation of saying he was only paying rent to his mother, and thus made no direct contribution to the mortgage? Plainly, folks, he did make a direct contribution.

 

 

The only issue is whether this was an endowment mortgage, i.e. one in which interest only was paid to the mortgage lender each month, with the capital repaid by the endowment policy at maturity; or whether the monthly payments to the mortgage lender were partly capital and partly interest.

 

A subsidiary point arises, in the former situation, as to who was paying the endowment policy premium each month.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Ed999

[mariner51]

Ed999, if DD was on mother's account and son only paid in money to mother's account to cover rent then there may be some doubt son was paying the mortgage. To be certain DD woul have to be against son's personal account IMO

[Ed999]

I understand the legal technicality you are raising; but the facts stated by the original poster don't seem to bear the interpretation which you're giving them. He has simply stated that he paid the mortgage, by direct debit.

 

But even if the facts are as you assume them to be, I for one am certainly not willing to presume to second-guess what decision a court might come to on the issue of contribution, particularly if the mother was wholly financially dependent on him.

 

Reading the o/p's statement, one matter leaps to the eye. Clearly, he is out of his depth in relation to all of the legal aspects of this problem. It would therefore be unsafe to take his statement literally.

 

It appears to represent only what he thinks the situation was, but would need to be closely enquired into to learn whether it can be corroborated at any points, something we aren't able to do for him, which is why I suggest he consult a Solicitor - who would be able to make the necessary enquiries.

[sir_gilmour]

Hi

Welcome to The Consumer Action Group.

 

 

I am just letting you know that as you haven't had any replies to your post yet, it might be better if you post your message again in an appropriate sub-forum. You will get lots of help there.

 

Also take some time to read around the forum and get used to the layout. It is a big forum and takes a lot of getting used to.

 

 

Once you start to find your way, you will soon realise that it is fairly easy to get round and to get the help you need.

 

It can be bit confusing at first.

[philmycoke]

Hi,

in 2006 my mother died and by 2007 my brother was the sole title holder owner of the house which my mother left me her share.

From discussing with the solicitor who did the probate work and all I know is I paid her £700 and that the end of it.

She said and gave me only 2 documents.

One was title change to my brother and second was a letter sent to me by her partner, which I have never seen. Signed and dated.

However the letter has been dated and signed.

Opening lines of the letter suggest “

we have spoken many times and the bank is content on having your brother as the sole owner on the mortgage”.

“ I have spoken to the bank”.

I am not sure why the solicitor needs to speak with the mortgage company or why they would refuse my name even if my credit was so bad.

Right now all I want to know is I was told there is something called “deeds of variation” which I have never seen.

From my understanding the letter above which I have never seen was enough to officially remove me from my inheritance and make my brother the sole owner and thus removing me from any claim to my inheritance.

Now there is talk of removing me from my family home so therefore I am very worried.

I have probate letter, will and copy of this “letter” which has never been seen or touched by me.

Title change or my brother being the sole owner was done by different solicitors and my gut feeling is they were the solicitors from the mortgage side.

As the location is too far they are not local.

So somehow my brother gave them the letter, told them he dose not want inheritance and thus they said okay and gave him the full mortgage in sole name.

I have not signed, dated, seen or agreed to anything to suggest I would give up on £300 to £500k worth of inheritance.

I am not sure where to go from here.

Money is an issue. I do not have much to spend on this for now.

Please advise.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

Are you named as a beneficiary in the will and are you an executor please?

 

HB

[honeybee13]

Here's something about doing a deed of variation.

 

https://www.gov.uk/alter-a-will-after-a-death

 

HB

[philmycoke]

Yes. So she left me 50% of her house aka family home. she and my brother owned it jointly. i was also the exector.

[BazzaS]

If you were also the executor:

a) what did you agree to? (both as beneficiary and executor)

b) what did you sign? (both as beneficiary and executor).

[philmycoke]

i paid the solicitor £700. After that to this day no contact regarding any work on that.

 

i feel rest of what ever happend was done by the theif aka my brother.

 

including the letter which i had no seen untill last week which said and talked about deeds of variation.

 

in the letter the solictor said i spoke to you many times and now i am writing this letter to make sure you want to enter deeds of variation.

 

however the work was never done by this solictor.

 

Ali

[BazzaS]

 

You still need to answer the questions below if you want reliable advice, otherwise respondents will be 'just guessing'

Additionally, when did you get the 2nd letter of "She said and gave me only 2 documents"?

Unless I've misunderstood she gave you that letter some time ago and you've only just opened it and read it?

 

BazzaS said:

If you were also the executor:

a) what did you agree to? (both as beneficiary and executor)

b) what did you sign? (both as beneficiary and executor).

[philmycoke]

i am sorry. i cant not add further. 1. bacuse once i gave her the checque to begin the work, i never got back to her. 2. about 3 days later my brother said bank has refused to allow me to be on the mortgage, so it will be on his name. end of matter.

 

the letter the same solictor sent me 2 weeks or go after i asked her what work she had done, and how do i claim my inherertance. only by chance i knew the name of the company and by chance i got her number.

 

thats when she sent me copy of the letter which apprently i signed.

 

she said she did the probate work and her parter sent me that letter. after this zero work was done by the firm.

 

so everything else, action on the letter. title change, deeds of variation and everything else was NOT done by this firm.

 

so what happned with the £700 i do not know.

 

i think i need to find funds to visit a cheap solictor to get to bottom of what happned and where i stand. right now it sounds very bad.

[BazzaS]

I wouldn't focus on "what you got for your £700" at present.

I'd focus on finding out who did the conveyancing on any transfer of title, and worked on the deed of variation (if there was one).

You were the executor : what did you do after that first visit?

Why didn't you follow this up with the solicitor at the time?

Are there any other potential beneficiaries who may have lost out?

If so you are protected from them suing you by there being more than 6 years passing, in most (but not all!) circumstances ....

[philmycoke]

my mothers share of the house 50% was given to me.

 

my brother and his wife using my blind faith, stupidity and innocense did something behind my back.

 

i was told my brother to go to the solictor and pay her to start the will work. i did she said £700 and i gave her a checque. then nothing.

 

few days later i was told by my brother i cant have my name in the house as bank has refused.

 

end of the matter as far as i was concerened.

[Haunter]

You need to ask your brother for a copy of the Grant of Probate document.

 

Also, you should make a written request to HM Land Registry for a copy of the Title to your late mother’s property, this document will confirm who is the legal owner. There is a fee you must pay for this, it’s £12 for a Title Pack, or you can request a Title Register for £59.

 

You need to get a copy of this Deed of variation that your brother and the solicitor claim you signed.

 

Did your brother, and or, the solicitor send you any documents and tell you to just sign them and send back and that they would take care of everything for you?

 

As you say you are named in the Will as beneficiary to 50% of your late mother’s property, your home, and the Will has been declared as a valid one, then that 50% legally belongs to you and is due, owed and payable immediately to you as a matter of law.

 

The mortgage provider does not have authority to decide who can be named as the title owner, it can decide who it will allow to continue the mortgage payments, HM Land Registry declares by Public Act who is the legal owner once all legal formalities have been satisfied.

 

You need to get these documents, if your brother or the solicitor refuse to give you copies, then you should consider taking legal action to protect your 50% share of the home, tell your brother that this is your intention because you believe he has committed a fraud on you, whether the solicitor is involved or not, time will tell.

 

Haunter

[Mr.P]

i think i need to find funds to visit a cheap solictor to get to bottom of what happned and where i stand. right now it sounds very bad.

 

You need a solicitor with knowledge and experience of dealing in these sort of cases and it won't come cheap. Whilst you may hit lucky with a cheap one, I'm afraid you only get what you pay for.

[philmycoke]

Bro issue is this,

 

@ this stage he is talking big, taking alot of poop. He and his wife want to take major action on our family home.

 

beacuse of family etc they are staying put for now.

 

Everything you are advising me to do, can this be done without my brothers knowelge, can some solictor do fact finding and give me a report without involving my brother?

 

can some solictor write few letters and get responses and then tell me where i stand?

 

one thing is for sure. there is no way in hell i ever wanted to or will give up £500k nor did i ever sign anything like that way.

 

this so called "cencent" letter which i was given a copy emailed by the solictor has a date and signature on it which is not mine. writing is not mine. it is not me. father christmas could of signed it.

 

i was told to go to the solictor. pay the money to do work on the will. so i said hello i am here to see Mary, Mary said £700 so i wrote a checque. no reciept. no further communication. not even a coffee.

 

lets hope this dose not cost me too much

 

ali

[Haunter]

You can get the info from H M Land Registry without your brother's knowledge, that will help you to find out who has Title to your family home!

 

Grant of Probate is a public document, you can apply to the Principle Registry in London for a copy of this, I'm not sure what the fee is though, but again, you can get a copy of this legal document without your brother knowing!

 

You can instruct a solicitor experienced in probate law and ask him to send requests for info/docs to your brother, this won't be cheap though and your brother might not even respond!

 

Haunter

[philmycoke]

now i understand. title aka 100% of the ownership of the house is my brothers. so all the mortgage and title is on his name.

 

is that bad?